Opportunity Strikes

October 5, 2018

Northeastern’s co-op opportunity and the cultural diversity on campus were two factors that motivated Jerin Rajan, MS Information Systems 2019, to apply for the Information Systems master’s program and eventually move all the way from Mumbai, India. Before joining Northeastern’s College of Engineering, Rajan had worked with Big Data and Business Intelligence systems quite extensively.

Initially, Rajan was interested in Engineering management, but soon realized that he wanted to work with applications and further develop his skills in the Cloud Computing technologies, which he is still so passionate about. He soon realized that the IS program at Northeastern is exactly what he was looking for. He took the courses that would allow him to explore Cloud Computing & Network Infrastructure, Big Data, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics.

“These were four concentrations I wanted to dive into,” Rajan recalls.

His coursework has gave him a push to further explore the area of his interest. One presentation that he has created for his Advance Data Science class at Northeastern has dramatically changed his co-op experience.

“The main reason why I got this co-op is due to my experimentation in one of the latest technologies called Kubernetes, an open-source system, originally designed by Google.” With his previous interest in Cloud computing, Kubernetes was a whole other level that excited him.

When the time came to apply for a co-op, Rajan decided to apply primarily to the positions that would help him make professional progress. A few days after the Spring semester exams, his advisor Ms. Maricla Pirozzi called him saying that he had an interview with Amadeus scheduled.

“For me it was not about a company, it was about exploring my area of interest,” he mentioned. “I was just waiting for the right opportunity.”

During the interview Rajan showed his passion in working on Big Data and Cloud technology and soon realized that his own co-op expectations perfectly matched the company’s goals.

“It was the exact job that I wanted,” he said.

Working as DevOps Intern at Amadeus, was often challenging but it was exactly the kind of position and the company Rajan wanted to be a part of. He is currently working on migration of monitoring platform which uses real-time stream processing technology to Kubernetes infrastructure. He also had a chance to work with people around the world, exchange his ideas and learn from them every single day. It was a highly team-oriented setting, which was another advantage. Rajan was aware that Amadeus is a company with a big global presence even before he started to work with them, but he had no idea it was so diverse.

Northeastern’s coursework really helped him expand the knowledge he already had and find something new that he is now further exploring. That last-minute call from Rajan’s advisor gave him an opportunity to work with one of the Best Travel companies and acquire a whole new set of knowledge.

“I believe in my decisions, goals and reaching there one step at a time with NU being one of the wonderful phases of my life,” he said.